


The One Where They Turn Purple

by Care



Category: New Girl
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-09
Updated: 2013-07-09
Packaged: 2017-12-18 04:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/875799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Care/pseuds/Care
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick and Jess and Hogwarts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One Where They Turn Purple

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kyra Cullinan (Kyra)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyra/gifts).



> Originally posted to Tumblr. Hopefully the first of many pieces set in the Hogwarts 'verse. :D

The first time Nick kisses her, he doesn't even remember. Jess still feels a pang whenever she thinks about it. He's all drunk on firewhiskey -- Jess still doesn't know where Winston found it -- and she helps him from the common room to his bed, letting him lean his weight against her. When he kisses her, right before he falls face first onto his pillows, his mouth burns her lips (burned in the best possible way, not like LITERALLY BURNED, god, Cece and Sadie could really improve on their understanding of metaphors). He's horribly hungover the next morning at breakfast, and she hasn't slept, wondering what he's going to say to her.

Nothing, as it turns out, except for a weak apology for throwing up on her shoes (yeah, that happened after the kiss and before the falling onto pillows part).

The second time Nick kisses her, it's by the lake, right after they've gotten into a huge fight about her dating Sam. She doesn't even know what they're fighting about, only that Nick's been sort of surly about Sam for weeks, and when she finally asks him about it he blows up in her face. In typical Nick Miller fashion. They're fighting so hard, they have their wands out and everything, like they're going to hex each other. Nick looks from her wand to her face and Jess _feels_ it, the change in the air, and he lunges at her, pressing her against a tree, his fingers digging in her shoulders hard enough to bruise. It burns in the same metaphorical way though. Jess would have more thoughts about the subject if she wasn't so busy kissing him back, losing her grip on her wand in the process.

Nick's heaving for breath when they break apart, his expression shock-still. Jess thinks her ears are ringing. For a long minute they just look at each other, saying nothing.

"Shit -- my wand -- " she says, realizing, and she drops to the ground to scrabble madly through the grass.

" _Accio_ Jess's wand," Nick says, his voice all croaky. It flies up into his grasp.

He hands it to her, and when his hand brushes hers, she wants to kiss him all over again. Which she would've, if Schmidt didn't call her name at that moment. When Jess turns around again, Nick's gone. She can see him -- running madly for the castle -- his figure already disappearing.

Jess is a little impressed by how fast he runs. Despite herself.

 

*

 

"Dammit," Schmidt says. He throws his books down on the table, nearly upsetting Winston's plate. "I've tried and I've tried, and the Sorting Hat just won't listen to me!"

"Schmidt," Jess says patiently. "You can't change your house. You've been a Hufflepuff for almost seven years. The Sorting Hat's never going to let you."

"It's infuriating, you know that? It keeps talking in riddles. What does it think I am, some sort of freaking Ravenclaw?"

Nick looks up from his pumpkin juice. He looks annoyed, which doesn't help Jess decipher any feelings he might have. He always looks faintly annoyed. "Come on, Schmidt. You've been trying for two years. Can't you just leave it alone and let us eat dinner in peace?"

"No," Schmidt snaps. "The sorting system is flawed. We're sorted at 11, and we graduate at 17. That leaves no room for personal growth. Are you the same person you were when you were 11, Nick? Huh?"

"Actually -- " Jess, Winston, and Nick all start to say in unison.

"None of you understand me. This _house_ doesn't understand me," Schmidt announces loudly, to the whole Hufflepuff table. Only the first-years even glance up from their dinner.

He sweeps his books back into his arms, and strides out of the Great Hall. Jess grins, and she catches Nick's eye. He's shaking his head, and he stops mid-shake. She drops her gaze, heart pounding. Her mouth is suddenly dry.

"Something weird's going on with you two," Winston says. "I can feel it."

 

*

 

Cece's normally Jess's potions partner, but she's sick with something -- a cold -- so she's in the hospital wing and Jess has to pair up with Nick instead. It's been two days since he kissed her and ran away, and now he's acting like he doesn't even know her (it's definitely on purpose because Nick's never paid so much meticulous attention to crushing dried beetles their whole time at Hogwarts). Jess tries to push it out of her mind, stirring the mixture in the cauldron, hoping it's going to turn opaque like the book says it's supposed to. She reaches for Nick's crushed beetles, and he moves suddenly and she doesn't even really know how it happens, but she finds the front of her robes _soaked_ in whatever-it-is.

"Uh, Jess," Nick says, looking her full in the face for the first time since the kiss.

She looks down at her hands. They're turning purple. Great.

And -- look -- it's not that she'd do this under normal circumstances -- she's a prefect after all -- but she's turning _purple_ and Nick won't even _talk_ to her and maybe she's losing it a little bit --

Jess grabs the cauldron and throws the remainder of the potion into Nick's face. That moment alone is almost worth the monthlong detention they end up getting.

 

*

 

They get lectured at in the hospital wing. Nick's hair is a dark shade of plum, and he's scowling so hard that Jess thinks the frown lines are going to be etched into his face permanently. He stomps out of the room after they're back to their normal color (albeit with a hint of a purplish undertone -- it's supposed to fade in a few days), not waiting for her. She catches up to him by running half the length of the corridor, ignoring one of the portraits telling her to slow down, young lady.

"I'm not sorry," she says to him before he can open his mouth. Not that he was going to. "You deserved it."

He whips around, glaring. "What?!"

She makes herself stand up straighter. "You deserved it," she repeats, louder. "You kissed me for no reason and ran away and ignored me for two days. I have a boyfriend, Nick Miller, I don't need this crap! I'm 17-years-old! You deserved to turn purple!"

He looks almost cowed for a second, but then he seems to rally. "I kissed you because I like you, Jess, and I didn't know what to do about it! I've wanted to kiss you for four years, so I kissed you!"

It rings in the hallway. Out of the corner of her eye Jess can see figures scattering from the painting on her right. It's going to be all over the school in minutes -- Nick Miller kissing Jessica Day and yelling about it in the corridor next to the hospital wing -- but Jess is pretty sure she doesn't care. She's pretty sure she can't really think about anything except how serious Nick's gaze is, how he's not looking at anything else but her. Like giants could come tearing through Hogwarts and he wouldn't even move. Not an inch.

"I wanted to kiss you too," she says, and she sees something behind his eyes shift.

"Jess," he says, all weird and scrambled. "Jess -- "

He moves.

 

*

 

They get another two weeks of detention for knocking a suit of armor over with their making out.

This one is definitely, _definitely_ worth it.


End file.
